The feature allows for seamless save file transfer between PC and the portable Steam Deck device. “We anticipate that users will frequently suspend their Steam Deck without exiting the game, as is common with other hand-held gaming devices,” reads a post about the feature. It means players won’t need to exit the game on one device to play on the other. Steam will also automatically download save data changes when players wake up their device to use their Steam Deck....

That’s according to a Polygon report with details from Vicarious Visions staff, who were apparently told about the name change during a recent company call. Staff criticised the fact this detail was dropped during a “light and quick” meeting on a day they had been encouraged to dress up - and some were in Halloween costumes. Vicarious Visions was originally founded in 1991, and became part of Activision in 2005....

The Duviri Paradox is Warframe’s latest open-world expansion - following the likes of Plains of Eidolon and Heart of Deimos - and plunges players into the extremely weird world of Duviri, a fantasy-western-themed kingdom existing inside the mind of new big bad Dominus Thrax. More striking, though - and there’s a lot of eye-catching stuff, from its stark black and white aesthetic to its skeletal horse steed - is its new rewind-on-death mechanic that sees developer Digital Extremes “flirting with rogue-like elements”....

The presentation will be hosted by Smash Bros. boss Masahiro Sakurai, and is due to last 40 minutes. Will it finally be Birdo’s time? Or will a third-party character like Sora or Crash nab the game’s final slot? We can but look on and find out: In the lead-up to today’s announcement, fans have been thanking Sakurai for his work on the series - and in particular the extended development time on Ultimate creating two season passes’ worth of DLC characters....

To put the drive more fully through its paces, we opted to install it in PlayStation 4 Pro where its SATA-3 interface could perhaps offer more bandwidth and where the faster 2.13GHz AMD Jaguar CPU cores should crunch through compressed data far more quickly. It’s the best way possible to enhance the console - but what advantages does it actually deliver? Can we address the long load times of games like The Witcher 3?...

“[The reception] has been so generous,” head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann tells me over Microsoft Teams (naturally) of the sim’s first few months. “When you come back after 14 years, you wonder how you’re going to be received. You were gone for a while, the segment has moved. But I would say the simmers have been so gracious - so gracious. There’s still some that say we need to be more study level - we know, we understand....

The news comes from WoW boss Ion Hazzikostas, who announced and explained the decision on the game’s website. “For years now, many players have questioned whether the rules restricting communication and cooperation between Alliance and Horde need to be so absolute,” he wrote. “The faction divide could keep close friends from playing together, or cause players to feel that their faction leaves them with far fewer opportunities to pursue their favourite group content....

“The pattern, using the brand’s iconic colours, has been endorsed by the Scottish Tartans Authority and entered into The Scottish Register of Tartans,” Xbox shared yesterday. “The landmark pattern and limited-edition controllers commemorate the history of Xbox with a contemporary design created by Edinburgh-based tartan designer Gordon Nicolson, makers of the Scotland National Football Team Tartan.” Check out a video showing the making of Xbox’s new tartan below, as well as a closer look at a very smartly dressed controller (which appears to be a true Scotsman, as no underwear lies between the controller and its tartan cladding - cheeky)....

In the aftermath of Microsoft’s takeover news, many questions remained, not least regarding how the deal would impact platform exclusivity for all of Activision Blizzard’s currently multi-platform titles, including the likes of Overwatch and Call of Duty. Microsoft’s initial nods toward the issue were vague at best, with its press release announcing the deal merely saying, “Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward....

The service launched back in February 2021 for games to be validated against the Xbox accessibility guidelines and accessibility tags applied. Now, developers can gain feedback from disabled players testing their games. Microsoft announced this news at today’s Xbox Accessibility Showcase, celebrating the disability community and those making gaming more accessible. The MGATS programme will focus on a number of key gaming functions, such as golden path, settings, navigation, and in-game communication, covering hearing, vision, speech, mobility, and cognition....

As I said, though, it’s entirely playable, and I’ve been playing it, and it’s been excellent fun. This is a nice modern take on the sort of Turtles-style scrolling beat-’em-up. By modern I mean it has XP and leveling and gear and a hub and all that jazz. But it’s also just a good time in a lovely world. Young Souls has charm. (And a profanity filter mode, thankfully, which makes up for the bizarre choice to include swearing in a game that kids will clearly love....

You can learn all about it in this special DF Retro interview, where John Linneman and Audi Sorlie talk to Jacob Habgood, director of education partnerships at the Sumo Group about how Zool Redimensioned came to be, while Sumo Digital Academy intern Emma Rogers shares her experiences in helping to create the new version of the game. On top of that, we get some fascinating insights and historical perspectives from none other than Ian Stewart - co-founder of Gremlin Graphics, the 80s/90s publishing powerhouse responsible not just for Zool, but a range of almost legendary micro-computer franchises from Potty Pigeon, Bounder, Monty Mole, through to Switchblade and the officially licensed Lotus racing games - and many more....

Wiglett is confirmed to be a water type Pokémon, and is based on the garden eel (not a worm as I had previously guessed) in real life. In the video, Wiglett is briefly shown using Water Pulse on a Bonsly in battle. The official Scarlet and Violet website has also updated its list of Pokémon to include Wiglett, which is described as “boasting an exceptional sense of smell”. Other facts include its skittish disposition and the mystery of “what the rest of its body hidden in the sand is like or how long it might be”....

The 99% Invisible City talks about the Manhoru movement - a Japanese trend for decorative manhole designs displaying “location-specific motifs” and everything from Hello Kitty to elements of folklore. Back in the eighties, the original impetus for this stuff was to raise awareness of subsurface utilities at a time when only half of Japanese households were connected to municipal sewers. Since then it has become a thing of joy and creativity in its own right....

Descenders, if you’re unfamiliar, serves up an exhilarating freeriding experience as players - either solo or competitively - race, trick, and flip their way across a procedurally generated world. It was warmly received at launch, but really made its mark - and found a significant audience - once it released on Xbox Game Pass. Following the game’s well-deserved, and continuing, success on Microsoft’s subscription service, RageSquid announced it was working on a next-gen enhancements upgrade for Xbox Series X/S - and that update is now finally here....

As it does on PC, this version will render internally at 8K and then down sample it to display at 4K and 120hz. “The Touryst is (as far as we know) the only game that currently renders at a resolution of 8K on PS5. No up sampling or temporal filtering is used,” Shin’en boss Manfred Linzner told us, “so the image quality is superb.” Expect cross-buy between PS4 and PS5, and a price of $19....

Unpacking initially burst out of its box toward the end of last year, giving PC, Switch, and Xbox players the opportunity to experience significant moments in the life of its protagonist, as relayed entirely through the act of pulling her current possessions out of boxes and packing them away into a new living space each time. “Here’s a puzzle game, at surface, about tidying things away,” wrote Martin Robinson on announcing Unpacking as Eurogamer’s Game of the Year in 2021, “a premise that’s compelling enough alone....

Scattered across the city of Stray are objects and locations which will help restore one of B-12’s corrupted memories; each memory will either reveal part of the little drone’s past or a fact about the city’s history. Below you’ll find all of the memory locations in Stray, so you can collect them and earn a Stray trophy. On this page: Explainers: Memory Locations: If you’d like to learn more about Stray, then check out our guides on the energy drink locations, music sheet locations and Stray trophies....

Revealed during last December’s Game Awards, The Airship is inspired by another InnerSloth series, the Henry Stickmin Collection, and introduces new rooms, tasks, and ways to move around, including ladders. It also lets players pick their own starting room. InnerSloth had originally been hoping to launch The Airship map, which it describes as its “biggest one yet”, a little sooner. As it explains in a new blog post, however, several factors prevented it from doing so - including the 5-person team needing to deal with everything from maintenance to hiring to working on last year’s Switch port in recent months....

The fitness-based activity sees you and your fellow villagers take up some light exercise outside of the Town Hall - with an invite for you to personally get involved in the action. Group stretching last appeared in Animal Crossing way back in the GameCube original, as part of a week-long event during the summer which encouraged players to take in the early starts at their best. This time, motion controls using a Joy-Con as well as button controls are an option - and all you have to do is find the tape deck in your village to get started....